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p4 weekender septembers 1994 st council boards are working for you why is it public institu tions public bodies public meetings tend to intimidate most of us in reality they shouldnt but in most cases they do how many of you have actu ally toured town hall or taken in a council meeting how many then have seen the board of education in action or attended one of their spe cial committee meetings not many right if you were asked your opin ion about how this town is run or the people who run it or what you thought about the education system and the amount of money it takes to run it were sure you would be able to give us an earful but it stops there why thats also a dilemma faced by the task force on public tar viewpoint john sturrup participation topp which recently released its findings to the york region roman catholic separate school board in its report the group said that parents want the board trustees to be heard by the public give information to the parents then the parents can decide when they want to get involved was the way topp cochair august chow summed up the committees report but while they want more information to go to the par ents do the parents actually want to get involved when topp hosted infor mationgathering hearings earlier this year parents across the region failed to make an appearance the area meetingon june 2 drew 11 parents call it apathy or call it intimidation we shouldnt feel that way about our public bodies what we have to remember is that they work for the tax payer and you essentially call the shots while the tribune very much enjoys being an outspo ken contributor to debates on issues involving york region we believe strongly in public participation your voice is also very important so dont be apathetic dont be intimi dated we all have some very important choices to make come the nov 14 municipal election take the time to check all your candidates credentials take some time to attend some of the allcandidates meetings that will be run ning between now and the election because we cant complain about it later markham economist and sun st0uffv1lle tribune uxbridge tribune weekender edition a metroland community newspaper paotciapapfaspublisher jo ann srevenson editorinchief paula crowell editor andrew maih editor debraweller director of advertising barry goodyear director of distribution vivian otffill business manager pamela nichols operation manager markham 2942200 sale 7987624 classi fied 2944331 stooffville 6402100 uxbridga 8529741 2948244 distribution and administration 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m2 fax markham 2941638 btottflvulo 640- 6477 uxfaridge- 8524356 the markham eraoomist and sun stouftville tri- vupol ban newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post collingwood connection etobicoke guardian the liberal georgetown inde pendentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakville beaver onllia today oshawawhitby this week peterborough this week scarborough mirror the era banner contents not to be reproduced without written permission from the publisher if you have to go go in one piece adam by brian basset i dont know if youve made out your will yet but if you havent heres a piece of advice you might want to consider make sure that the undertaker gets all of you many folks some of them famous neglected to write that proviso into their checkout con tracts they subsequently paid the price you could check it out with galileo if he was still around the celebrated astronomer shuffled off his mortal coil back in 1642 but bis finger is still with us if you visit the florence museum of history and science in italy you can view a special display that shows the poor mans blackened digit pointing eternally skyward it is galileos middle finger sig nificantly enough americas most famous presi dent george washington was buried with all pomp and ceremo ny back in 1799 but someone neglected to throw his teeth into the coffin actually it was georges fault he had mailed his extracted teeth to a dentist for use as a model for his dentures the dentist hung on to the originals for souvenirs he used to take them with him to parties as a conversa tion piece theyre still out there somewhere so if youre at a soiree and somebody offers to show you george washingtons molarsdont be afraid to bite nothing as trivial as teeth or fin gers for jeremy bentham the english philosopher who died in 1832 left all his money to the london hospital with one small catch bentham insisted that his body be dissected and the remains mummified whaf s more he directed that his preserved corpse was to be arranged sitting in an armchair at the board of directors table in the london hospital in perpetuity to paraphrase gertrude stein a bequest is a bequest is a bequest for the next 92 years members of the london hospital board got to share space at the table with the desiccated carcass of jeremy bentham smiling over them mind you to avoid any confu sion they placed a sign in front of jeremy the sign read not vot ing and then theres speedy few deceased persons have spent as vjopgbejween the mrpislaj basic black arthur black and the grave as good old speedy his real name was henry atkins he was a black laborer in a tobacco factory in paducah kentucky back in the 1920s in 1928 while fishing on the ohio river henry fell out of his boat and was drowned he was poor with no next of kin and no real friends not yet anyway speedys corpse was about to meet az hamock a paducah funeral director who happened to be fascinated by the egyptian practice of mummification since nobody had claimed speedys remains hamock decided to try a little experimental embalming it worked although he turned the color of a russet apple speedy did not undergo the usual process of decay over the next 66 years speedy an itinerant laborer became prob ably the most famous citizen paducah kentucky ever spawned the hamock family adopted him three times a year he was careful ly washed and dressed in fresh clothes sightseers could come to the funeral home and see speedy free of charge tv camera crews showed up and put speedy on national tv museums and carnivals sent agents to try and buy speedy they offered lots of money but the hamocks turned them down speedy was family finally this summer the descen dants of az hamock decided it high time to treat henry was vvs atkins like a real member of the family they laid him out in a black tuxedo and showered a blan ket of red carnations on his coffin the church choir sang a half dozen spirituals to speedy and the min ister at the local baptist church gave him a rousing sendoff ser mon sixtysix years after he tumbled out of a boat in the ohio river henry speedy atkins finally went to his grave rest in peace speedy i tt itiibtiliillittliaaw